Amazon Shutters Hotel-Booking Site After Six Months

Amazon.com Inc. has shuttered its hotel booking site "Amazon Destinations" six months after its start, signaling the world’s largest e-commerce company couldn’t persuade many of its customers to book weekend getaways.

The Seattle company introduced the site in April hoping to expand on its Amazon Local initiative connecting shoppers with deals close to home. The destinations site featured maps, lodging offers and information about restaurants at popular weekend getaways near Los Angeles, New York City and Seattle.

Amazon Destinations stopped selling reservations on Tuesday, according to an announcement on the website. "If you have a reservation, your reservation is valid and will be honored by the hotel," the site states.

“We have learned a lot and have decided to discontinue Amazon Destinations,” the company said Wednesday in a statement.

The business pitted Amazon against Web travel businesses Priceline Group Inc., Expedia Inc., startup Airbnb Inc. and others for a piece of the online hotel booking market. Tourism in the U.S. is a $960 billion industry, according to researcher IBISWorld.